Matthew Mott: 'As soon as we had a bad World Cup, I was in the crosshairs'

"I felt, as soon as we had the bad World Cup in India, that I was in the crosshairs… If I'm being really honest, in my own reflections, yes, we didn't win the T20 World Cup in the West Indies, but we came up against a team [India] that was pretty geared for those conditions. I don't think that particular game was an abject failure; everyone knew their attack was pretty well suited to that ground.

"We put up a decent fight, but it was a bad way to go out. Making a semi-final wasn't disastrous. I knew I was under pressure, but if I'm honest, I thought maybe I'd keep having a go - but I could understand the rationale behind it."

Mott flagged throughout his short tenure the challenges that he faced: "We literally can't play our best team," he told me in 2023, four months before the World Cup in India. England's white-ball schedule that summer was bizarre, with three rain-affected end-of-season ODIs at home to Ireland pushing back their departure, but Mott knew what he was signing up for.

"Those things weren't a surprise," he says. "There was no resentment or disappointment about that. It was obvious that they needed a lot of attention on the red-ball [team] after the results that had come, and Baz was given the charter to do that.

"Our lead-in to the World Cup in India was far from ideal from a high-performance perspective. I flagged that very early, but there's also things outside your control. If it was purely about performance, we would've got to India a lot earlier, had a couple of decent practice matches, got acclimatised and been ready.

"As it turned out, we had that series, jumped on a plane, and took 40 hours to get to Guwahati [for a washed-out warm-up match against India]. Then you start on the wrong foot. I saw it at the time as a red flag, but felt powerless to do much about it.

"I don't have any regrets; I have a lot of lessons learned, but you've also got to be honest with yourself and think: how much could I have actually influenced, given the other parts of the business that are equally geared to have their piece of the pie?"

He has no complaints over how his departure was handled, either. "Once the decision was made by the ECB, they were fantastic. I was treated respectfully. I left in good grace, and I had no problems. Rob Key ultimately had to fire me, and pull the trigger, but we maintain a relationship and I just know that's sport… My wife will hate me saying this, but it is what it is."

McCullum's recent sacking from his role with the Test team, while retaining control of the white-ball teams, means that England will return to a split-coaching dynamic. Their two previous attempts to make it function have been short-lived, and Mott believes it is the result of the scrutiny that separation invites.

"I look at other coaches around the world that do all of it," he says. "If you have a bad series, or a bad World Cup, there's always something else coming up. There's not the time for a real investigation of it… The good part [of splitting the roles] is you get a chance to reflect and refresh. The tough side is if you have a bad performance, it gets dwelt on quite a bit."

He goes a long way back with McCullum: they worked together at Kolkata Knight Riders in the inaugural IPL, and McCullum credits Mott with helping him to relax the night before his famous 158 in the competition's first-ever game. They have exchanged messages in the last two years, and Mott believes McCullum can thrive in charge of England's white-ball set-up.

"You could get a really refreshed version of him. He's been in the crosshairs for a while, hasn't he? You blokes [the media] have been harassing him… It's going to be important who they go with for the red-ball [job]. There's obviously a lot of speculation, but that relationship is important. It won't work unless the people get along, and understand each other's lens."

But that is no longer Mott's problem. He has worked in several different roles in the past two years: with Delhi Capitals, Seattle Orcas, Sydney Sixers, Glamorgan, Lancashire, and now the Super Giants. He will switch roles at the Sixers this year, moving from the women's team to the men's, and has a job lined up in the inaugural European T20 Premier League.

He has substantial experience in both the men's and women's game, and says that he tries to be "malleable" as a head coach. "You've got to sum up the cricket IQ of the group: where they're at in their own development and what they need. Sometimes, you're more directive; at other times, you can sit back and empower some of the players to lead more."

At Super Giants, Mott is back working with Meg Lanning. They won three World Cups together as Australia's coach and captain - T20 in 2018 and 2020, 50-over in 2022 - and are targeting another trophy. "Our time together was obviously successful," he says. "It was built on a lot of trust, and a lot of open conversations.

"We can argue as well. It's a really healthy dynamic that we don't always agree. She occasionally tells me to pull my head in as well. She's a voice of reason. Anyone who's been around her [will know that] she doesn't say a lot, but when she says something, it's worth listening to. We dovetail pretty well."

They started the season with a dominant win over London Spirit at Lord's before a no-result on Sunday, and their squad looks well-balanced. Mott believes that Lanning's presence at March's auction was a vital factor - "she was a real differentiator" - and also cites the influence of Sarah Taylor, who is working with both men's and women's squads, and director of cricket, Tom Moody.

Mott clearly does not miss the media scrutiny that came with his England role, but franchise cricket brings the challenge of keeping team owners happy. Sanjiv Goenka, who owns the Super Giants, was involved in an infamous altercation with KL Rahul after an IPL defeat two years ago, but Mott says that their early interactions have been positive.

"I've got a lot of confidence from speaking to Tom Moody about his role," Mott says. "He's obviously got a global role across all the [Super Giants] franchises, and I report directly into him... He's already taught me a lot about the franchise world, and how you have to manage things slightly differently."

It is early days, but both Super Giants teams - men's and women's - are unbeaten after the Hundred's first week. If they can continue that streak, then Mott will be smiling for a while longer.

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